The present invention is generally related to a diagnostic tool. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wireless communication module for communicating with a motor vehicle that includes multiple control units that implement at least two different communication protocols.
Today, motor vehicles include electronic control units for controlling various systems and/or subsystems within the vehicle. Such control units, for example, are employed to control the engine, transmission, brakes and the steering mechanism. These control units are typically coupled to a variety of sensors and/or actuators. Depending on the vehicle, the control units may implement various different communication protocols. In addition, many of these control units operate at different voltage levels and may transmit data and signal information in differential or single-ended modes.
Many prior art diagnostic tools have been coupled to a vehicle diagnostic connector with cables. These cables have constrained a user of such tools. In an effort to make diagnostic tools less cumbersome to use, at least one prior art diagnostic system has included a main control module and a user interface module. The main control module connected to the vehicle diagnostic connector and executed translation routines directed at a control unit within the vehicle. This main control module wirelessly communicated with the user interface module, thus obviating the need for cables to connect the modules. As mentioned above, diagnostic systems of this type have been implemented because it was desirable for a diagnostic technician to be able to diagnose a motor vehicle unconstrained by cables. However, this diagnostic system only implemented a single communication protocol.
Other diagnostic tools have included multiple hard-wired communication circuits that allowed the diagnostic tool to interpret multiple protocols from different control units. A different diagnostic tool included a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The FPGA allowed a diagnostic technician to download different images into the FPGA, such that the FPGA could accommodate different communication protocols. In this case, the FPGA served as a communication interface between one of the motor vehicle control units and a microcontroller, located in the diagnostic tool. However, diagnostic tools including FPGAs of this nature have only provided one communication protocol interface at a time. That is, these FPGAs have required reprogramming, such as when a new image was loaded into the FPGA, in order to communicate with a control unit that used a different communication protocol. However, many motor vehicles include multiple control units that implement different communication protocols within the same motor vehicle.
Thus, there is a need for a wireless diagnostic module that is capable of remotely communicating with various control units that implement different communication protocols.
The foregoing need has been satisfied, to a great extent, by the present invention which is directed to a wireless communication module for communicating with a remote station and a plurality of motor vehicle control units that implement at least two different communication protocols. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the wireless communication module includes an RF interface, a processor and a selectable multiple protocol interface. The processor communicates with the RF interface and thereby communicates with the remote station. The processor executes translation routines and thereby provides requests to one of the plurality of motor vehicle control units. The selectable multiple protocol interface is coupled between the plurality of motor vehicle control units and the processor. The selectable multiple protocol interface converts processor requests into motor vehicle control unit readable formats and converts received diagnostic information into a processor readable format.
In another embodiment, the selectable multiple protocol interface is implemented within a field programmable gate array (FPGA). In yet another embodiment, the processor is incorporated within the FPGA, obviating the need for a separate processor.
There has been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract included below, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.